Chicuace Tochtli (Mdz2r)

Chicuace Tochtli (Mdz2r)
Simplex Glyph
Notation

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This date, Chicuace Tochtli (Six Rabbit), includes the simplex glyph for rabbit and the notation for the number six, which is a group of five ones (small circles in a horizontal row) plus one more to the right of the group. The separation of the six ones creates a math equation, five plus one. The rabbit is shown in profile, facing toward the viewer's right. Its eye is open, and its teeth ar protruding. Typical of a year date, this one was boxed, even though our image does not show that. The entire box is also painted over with the color turquoise blue (xihuitl, the same word for "year"). So, the color is a phonetic indicator.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
calendrics
year name
homophony, rebus
numbers
phonetic dimensions
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Time, Calendar, Frequency
Colors: 
blue (turquoise)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
boxed in
facing right
profile view
Parts (of compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
downward
Keywords: 

xiuhpohualli, año, turquesa, xihuitl

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

chicuace, six, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/chicuace
tochtli, rabbit, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tochtli

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 02 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 14 of 188.

Image Source, Rights: 

The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, hold the original manuscript, the MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1. This image is published here under the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0).